The growth response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) seedlings (cv, Malabar) to 13 different vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was tested under mat house conditions at Bangalore, India, In general, seedlings inoulated with the fungi grew taller, had more number of leaves and tillers, increased seedling biomass and uptake of nutrients compared to control seedlings, Among the various mycorrhizal fungi tested, seedlings inoculated with Gigaspora margarita and Glomus monosporum exhibited significantly higher growth with increased uptake of nutrients,
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BAGYARAJ, K R SREERAMULU, D J

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r.' .. , ~. II Journal of Spices and Aromatic Crops 7 (2) : 89-94 (1998) Response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) seedlings to vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi K R SREERAMULU & D J BAGYARAJ Department of Agricultural Microbiology University of Agricultural Sciences GKVK Campus, Bangalore - 560 065, India, Abstract The growth response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum) seedlings (cv, Malabar) to 13 different vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi was tested under mat house conditions at Bangalore, India, In general, seedlings inoulated with the fungi grew taller, had more number of leaves and tillers, increased seedling biomass and uptake of nutrients compared to control seedlings, Among the various mycorrhizal fungi tested, seedlings inoculated with Gigaspora margarita and Glomus monosporum exhibited significantly higher growth with increased uptake of nutrients, Key words: cardamom, Gigaspora margarita, Glomus monosporun1J vesicular arbuscular mycorrhiza. Introduction Vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal (V AM) fungi are known to form a mutualistic symbiotic association with many crop plants and help in better crop growth through increased uptake of nutrients and alleviating various plant stressess, including diseases (Sharma et al. 1992; Vaast & Zasoski 19921 Zhi 1993), ,The response of a particular host varies with its associated VAM fungi (Plenchette et ai, 1982; N alini et ai, 1986), emphasizing the need for select-ing efficient VAM fungi for inoculating mycotrophic crop plants (Bagyaraj & Verma 1996). No study has been made earlier to know the symbiotic response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) to these beneficial fungi, Hence it was contemplated to screen and select efficient VAM fungi for inoculating cardamom in the nursery. Materials and methods Thirteen VAM fungi maintained at the Department of Microbiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore were screened in the experiment (Table n These fungi were multiplied separately on Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) as the «> 0 Table 1. Influence of V AM fungi on vegetative characters and colonization of cardamom seedlings * VAMfungi Source Seedling No.of Leaf area No.of tillers Mycorrhizal height (em) leaves per (cm2) per seedling root seedling colonization (%) Acaulospora laevis Invermay, New Zealand 80.2 11.9 133.3 1.6 43.3 Gigaspora calospora Hyderabad, India 76.9 11.2 124.4 1.4 25.0 Gi. margarita Hyderabad, India 86.3 12.6 144.4 2.0 58.3 Glomus caledonicum Nedlands, Australia 71.9 11.1 120.6 1.3 21.7 Gt. deserticola Salt lake city, USA 79.9 11.8 132.2 1.5 41.7 Gl. etunicatum Salt lake city, USA 77.1 11.4 126.4 1.4 28.3 Gl. fasciculatum Riverside, USA 82.8 12.2 138.4 1.7 50.0 Gl. intraradices Salt lake city, USA 80.4 12.0 134.2 1.6 45.0 Gl. leptotichum Bangalore, India 78.7 11.7 130.3 1.5 36.7 Gl. macrocarp urn . Bangalore, India 79.5 11.8 130.8 1.5 40.0 G. monosporum Nedlands, Australia 84.5 12.5 141.4 1.8 55.0 G. masseae H yderabad, India 81.0 12.0 137.0 1.7 46.7 "" ~ " G. versiformae Bangalore, India 77.8 11.6 128.9 1.4 30.0 -; " ;l Uninoculated 63.2 10.8 108.5 1.2 13.3 E. " CD (P~0.05) 3.96 0.72 13.13 0.18 9.38 Ro CV% 8.12 9.93 16.20 18.42 14.62 \Jj " "At 9 months after transplanting ~" -; 02 l" ·"-er 'oW- 'len Response of cardamom to VAM host and sand: soil (1:1) mix as the substrate. The experiment including control had 14 treatments with 20 replications laid out in a Completely Randomized Block Design. The experi-ment was conducted in polybags (size 20 em x 28 em of 100 gauge thickness) filled with 2 kg potting mixture comprising of forest top soil (sandy clay loam) : sand: FYM (2:1:1). The soil used in the substrate had a P content of 13.5 kg/ha and a native VA mycorrhizal spore load of 18 spores/25 ml soil. The potting mixture was mixed with full recommended dose of Nand K and half the recommended dose of P. The recom-mended fertilizer dose for optimum yield is 37.5-37.5-75.0 kg NPKI ha (Package of Practices 1985, University of Agricultural Sciences, Banglore). The quantity of fertilizer required for 2 kg potting mixture was calculated and added. Cardamom seedlings (cv. Malabar) raised in sterilized soil were used in the study. Healthy and three leaf staged uniform seedlings were selected and used for planting @ one seedling per polybag. Mter 20 days of seedling establishment in polybags, mycorrhizal inoculum comprising of fungal hyphae, root bits and spores were added @ 12,500 infective propagules (IP) per seedling close to the root. The quantity of VAM inoculum of different fungi added per seedling ranged from 0.69 g to 20.16 g in order to give 12500 IP/ seedling. The seedlings were watered whenever necessary and maintained in regulated shade under mat house con-ditions. Seedling height and number of leaves were recorded at 3, 6 and 9 months after transplanting (MAT). At 9 MAT the seedlings were harvested and the leaf 91 area ofthe seedling (George et al. 1984) and the number of tillers per seedling were determined. Shoot and root dry weights were estimated after drying to a constant weight at 60°C. Phosphorus content in shoot and root were esti-mated separately by vanadomolybdate phosphoric yellow colour method (Jackson 1973). The iron, copper and zinc contents in the seedlings were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer at wave lengths 248, 325 and 215 nm, respectively (Issac & Kerber 1971). The per cent mycorrhizal root colonization was determined after staining the roots with trypan blue (Phillips & Hayman 1970). Results and discussion Seedling height and number of leaves per seedling at 3, 6 and 9 MAT were influenced by different VAM fungi (Ta-ble 1). Seedlings inoculated with. VAM fungi grew taller and had more number ofleaves per seedling than uninoculated seedlings. Among the 13 diferent VAM fungi tested, seedlings inoculated with Gigaspora margarita and Glomus monosporum had maximum seedling height (86.3 and 84.5 em) and number of leaves (12.6 and 12.5) at 9 MAT and were on par with each other. Control seedlings had the lowest seedling height and number of leaves (Table 1). Leaf area was highest in seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita. The number of tillers was also maximum in the same species which differed signifi-cantly from all other treatmets. In general, seedlings inoculated with V AM fungi had higher shoot and root biomass compared to uninoculated seedlings. Maximum seedling dry biomass was observed in seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita followed by those inocu-92 lated with Gi. monosporum, Gl. fasciculatum and Gl. mosseae (19.2 to 23.0 g/plant). The lowest seedling dry biomass was seen in uninoculated seed-lings (Table 2). Mycorrhizal inoculation resulted in significant increase in shoot and root P contents of the seedlings. P content, both in shoot and root, was maximum in seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita and Gl. monosporum both being statistically on par with each other (Table 2). Inoculation with V AM fungi greatly influenced uptake of micronutrients like iron, copper and zinc (Table 3). Seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita, Gl. monosporum, Gl. fasciculatum and Gl. mosseae had higher uptake of iron, copper and zinc. Maximum root colonization was ob-served in seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita followed by Gl. monosporum Sreeramulu & Bagyaraj and Gl. fasciculatum and were on par with each othet(Table 1). The results of the present study indi-cates that VAM fungi influenced the growth of cardamom seedlings to a large extent compared to uninoculated seed-lings. Among the 13 different VAM fungi tested, Gi. margarita and Gl. monosporum were more efficient in improving the growth of seedlings, Seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita, Gl. monosporum and Gl. fasciculatum had nearly twice the seedling dry weight compared to uninoculated seed-lings. The main effect of V AM fungi in improving seedling growth is through increased uptake of diffusion limited nutrients especially phosphorus. Such increased P uptake has been attributed to increased· surface area of absorption and enhanced translocation (Sanders & Response of cardamom to VAM 93 Table 3. Influence ofVAM fungi on iron, copper and zinc contents in cardamom seedlings Treatment Iron (mg/seedling) Copper (mg/seedling) Zinc (mg/seedling) Shoot Root Acaulospora laevis 2.40 0.38 Gigasopra calospora 1.92 0.27 Gi. margarita 2.84 0.61 Glomus caledonicum 1.83 0.26 OZ. deserticola 2.26 0.35 OZ. etunicatum 2.02 0.28 Ol. fasciculatum 2.61 0.48 GZ. intraradices 2.47 0.39 GI. leptotichum 2.18 0.32 Gl. macrocarpum 2.21 0.34 OZ. monosporum 2.69 0.53 OZ. mosseae 2.53 0.41 Ol. versiformae 2.11 0.30 Uninoculated 1.48 0.17 CD (P=0.05) 0.33 0.08 CV% 8.60 12.54 Tinker 1971; Hatting et al. 1973). Seedlings inoculated with VAM fungi thus had higher P content in both shoot and root compared to uninoculated seedlings. In general, seedlings inocu-lated with VAM fungi had significantly more iron, copper and zinc in the shoot and root compared to uninoculated seedlings. Higher iron, copper and zinc contents were observed in seedlings inoculated with Gi. margarita, GI. mono-sporum, GI. fasciculatum and GI. mosseae. Seedlings inoculated with GI. margarita and GI. monosporum had maximum per cent mycorrhizal root colonization indicating that a direct relationship exists between seedling dry weight, uptake of nutrients especially P, and the endophyte association in terms of per cent root colonization which clearly showed that a preferential asso-ciation occurs with certain V AM fungi. Acknowledgements The authors are thankful to Spices Board,. Kochi for financial help and are Shoot Root Shoot Root 0.16 0.02 0.48 0.07 0.11 0.02 0.35 0.05 0.20 0.04 0.58 0.14 0.10 0.01 0.33 0.05 0.15 0.02 0.45 0.06 0.12 0.02 0.38 0.05 0.19 0.03 0.53 0.10 0.16 0.03 0.49 0.08 0.13 0.02 0.42 0.06 0.14 0.02 0.43 0.06 0.19 0.03 0.55 0.11 0.18 0.03 0.50 0.08 0.13 0.02 0.40 0.05 0.08 0.01 0.25 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.08 0.02 8.23 13.38 10.62 14.82 also grateful to Dr. R Naidu, Director.of Research, Dr. Joseph Thomas and Dr. R. Sudharshan, Scientists, Spices Board for their help during the investigation. References Bagyaraj D J & Verma A K 1996 Interaction between arbuscular' mycorrhizal fungi and plants. Their importance in sustainable agriculture in arid and semi arid tropics In: Jones T G (Ed.) Ad-vances in Microbial Ecology. Vol. 14. Plenum Press, New York. George M V, Korikanthimath V S, Vijayakumar K & Bhagavan S 1984 Estimation of leaf area in one year old cardamom plant. In: Sethuraj M R (Ed.) Proc. Sixth Symposium on Plantation Crops (pp. 41-47). Indian Society for Plantation Crops, Kasaragod. HattingMJ, Gray L E & Gerdemann J W 1973 Uptake and transloca-tion of 32p labelled phosphate to 94 onion roots by endomycorrhizal fungi. Soil Sci. 116 : 383-387. Issac S H & Kerber J D 1971 Atomic absorption and flame photometry techniques and uses in soils, plants and water analysis In: Wash L M (Ed.) Instrumental Methods for Analysis of Soil and Plant Tissue (pp. 17-37). Soil Science Society America Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, Jackson M L 1973 Soil Chemical Analysis. Prentice Hall (India) Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Nalini P A, Byra Reddy M S & Bagyaraj D J 1986 Selection of efficient VA mycorrhizal fungus for leucaena -A preliminary report. Leucaena Res. Rep. 7 : 61-62. Phillips J M & Hayman D S 1970 Improved procedures for clearing roots and staining parasitic and vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for rapid assessment of infection. Trans. Br. Mycol. Soc. 55 : 158-161. Sreeramulu & Bagyaraj Plenchette C, Furlan V & Fortin J A 1982 Effects of different endomycorrhizal fungi on five host plats grown on calcined montmorillonite clay. J. Am. Soc. Hart. Sci. 107 : 535-538. Sanders F E & Tinker P B 1971 Mechanism of absorption of phos-phate from soil by endogone mycorrhizas. Nature 233 : 278-279. Sharma A K, Johri B N & Gianinazzi S 1992 Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhize in relation to plant disease. World J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 8 : 559-593. Vaast P & Zasoski R J 1992 Effects of VA mycorrhizae and nitrogen source on rhizosphere soil charac-teristics, growth and nutrient acquisition of coffee seedlings (Caftea arabica. L.). Plant Soil. 147 : 31-39. Zhi L 1993 Effect of VA mycorrhiza on the growth and mineral nutrient uptake ofthe tea plant. J. Tea Sci. 13 : 15-20. 

Response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) seedlings to vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

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Response of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) seedlings to vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

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